Not so long ago, postpartum depression was not recognized as a real medical crisis for a mother – rather, she was often told to shake it off, pull it together, with no sympathy – after all, she was a new mother – why wasn’t she happy? Fortunately, today, postpartum depression is recognized as a real illness, a real physical crisis and there is hope. Christine Chappell knows what it is to experience post-partum depression. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, she shares her wildly changing emotions and shock...

In this sometimes emotional conversation, Doug shares with Dr. Chuck F. Betters some of the ways his brother’s death affected him and how grief for a child is different than the grief of an adult. It’s our hope that Doug’s story will help parents understand the grief of their children a little better and also encourage those who have lost siblings at a young age.

In this Help & Hope podcast, Dr. Betters talks with Bill Condon, who knows what it is to not only experience chronic pain with no hope of healing, but also the devastation of the losses that often accompanies chronic pain. Bill explains how depression took him into such a dark place he not longer wanted to live. Yet in the middle of debilitating pain, Bill’s story is one of hope.

Our culture deifies strength—and sadly, the church does too. Who has the most successful ministry, the largest congregation, or the godliest family? Our misplaced faith in human strength is a false hope with no basis in Scripture... read more.

In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Miho Kahn and her husband share the story of Miho’s journey into a world of drugs, violence and abuse. Miho transparently shares her journey and how she found peace and direction in a personal relationship to Jesus.

Is it possible to break free from drugs after a lifetime of using? Shelley Tribbitt says yes. After using drugs for over thirty years, Shelley broke free from the drugs, but then had to face the collateral damage she had done to her family and friends. In this poignant interview, Shelley describes the devastation drug use brought on her family, including the loss of custody of her children. Her daughter, Bay, joins the conversation and describes how she reconciled with her mother and why she never gave in to the temptation of drug use, even though they were readily available.

Perhaps one of the hardest pains for a parent to endure is when a child makes dangerous choices that are sure to lead to life-changing consequences. Judy Douglass, author of When You Love a Prodigal, knows this anguish first hand yet her story focuses on how parenting her son Josh drove her to the heart of Jesus where she learned truths about herself and the life-transforming power of God’s grace… learn more.

Gary Episcopo joins us on the Help & Hope podcast to share how God used his love for motorcycles and the brotherhood and comradery of motorcycle clubs to lead him into a life of demonstrating the love of Jesus to the one percenters or outlaw gangs. Growing up and even into adulthood, Gary struggled with many of the same temptations of these men and women and his understanding of the deep mercy… learn more.

Jessica shares her own story of how pornography drew her in when she was a middle schooler and how she found solace and acceptance through the internet and eventually chat rooms. Jessica describes the secrecy of her addiction and how it led to shame and guilt that she didn’t know how to break. Then, a woman acknowledged to a group of young adult females that pornography addiction was a woman thing, too. Suddenly, Jessica had hope that the chains of addiction could be broken. Jessica shares her journey as a means to offer hope to others. Learn more…

Loss of a Child is MARKINC's first resource, encouraging over 2 million hearts with help, hope, and healing. In this interview, Dr. Chuck and Sharon Betters discuss their story as parents who lost Mark, their sixteen year old son, in a devastating car accident. They are honest and they are real about their struggle to not only face each day without Mark but also to reconcile the love of God with His sovereign care.

Julie Sanford is a Recovery Mentor for wives of alcoholics. She is a wife and mom of three who found herself in a situation she never wanted to be in as the wife of an alcoholic. After several years of living in chaos, feeling alone, and unseen, she is now using her journey to help other wives of alcoholics navigate their husband’s addiction. She came to realize that it was not only her husband that needed recovery, but she also needed support. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Julie shares not only her story but hope and encouragement for those in a similar, broken place. Julie offers programs and coaching that equip women with the tools and strength needed to navigate their husband’s addiction without losing themselves in the process.

Marriage can be difficult, but adding a child with special needs adds a new level of challenges. In this wide-ranging conversation, Steve Demme shares his passion for helping to strengthen marriages, and in particular, wants to offer help and hope to fathers.  Even more specifically, to fathers of children with special needs. 

Neglect. Rejection. Sin. Conflict. Change. It’s difficult to attend church when you’ve suffered some of your deepest hurts. Megan Hill understands that church can be hard. In this conversation, Sharon Betters and Megan talk about why church hurt can be so devastating, the root of church hurt, people in the scriptures who experienced church hurt and how they responded to the priceless gift of community, and reasons to pursue life in a local church even when it hurts. Megan gently leads wounded people on a pathway to peace as she encourages us to explore the source of our struggles, find ways to express our sorrow…

Children raised in the same family sometimes grow up with very different responses to life. Such is the story of Julie Malone and her beautiful daughter, Allie. Julie and her husband, Tim loved their lives as parents and Tim’s ministry to teens. But their idyllic life would take a turn into a foreign land of broken places. Julie says,

“I am very thankful for my childhood as I came to know and love the Lord as my savior at a very young age. I really never knew a day without Jesus in my life. I married Tim, and we had 4 beautiful little girls. We were raising our kids to know Jesus. We were a close family. Life was good. But Tim and I often wondered how and when real suffering would enter our lives…

Did you know 40 million adults suffer from depression, and 4 in 10 US adults have developed high levels of stress and anxiety since the start of the pandemic? 58% of those are young adults. Clearly, we have a mental health crisis in America. In this conversation, Christopher Cook, author of Healing What You Can’t Erase and host of the WinToday podcast, is no stranger to deep depression. He uses the acronym SEED to help us understand the 4 steps to uncovering the root causes of anxiety and replacing lies with truth. His goal is to encourage us to…

Due to generations of hurt in his family, country music singer Ben Fuller turned to cocaine and alcohol at a young age. He got involved in a devastating drug-fueled relationship which led him to understand better, the other side…

Baseball great Darryl Strawberry readily acknowledges that people often think two things when they hear his name: Darryl was a great ball player, and Darryl lost it all to drugs. In this interview, Darryl and his wife Tracy share their story of drug addiction and how they found a pathway to restoration and wholeness. Their transparent responses to hard questions will challenge listeners to examine their own lives.

One in four adults are estranged from their parents, so says one 2022 study. According to another study, 11% of mothers between the ages 65 – 75 with two or more grown children were estranged from at least one…

Do these words haunt you: "Mom, Dad, I don't want your rules and morals. I don't want to act like a Christian anymore! And I'm not going to," Barbara Juliani (then Barbara Miller) made this declaration at the age 18. As her father desperately attempted to reason with her, Barbara grew more resentful, choosing a path of immorality that only deepened her parents' pain.

Such a declaration from a child, no matter their age, creates havoc and soul-searching in the hearts of their parents, who often ask, “What did I do wrong?”

“So who am I now that there’s only one place at the table….one pillow with a head dent, one towel damp after a shower? There’s only one toothbrush in the holder. The seat is never left up anymore. I can still write…